Seamus Heaney, "Digging"
Between my finger and my thumb
The squat pen rests, snug as a gun.
Under my window, a clean rasping sound When the spade sinks into gravelly ground:
My father, digging. I look down
Till his straining rump among the flowerbeds
Bends low, comes up twenty years away Stooping in rhythm through potato drills
Where he was digging.
The coarse boot nestled on the lug, the shaft Against the inside knee was levered firmly.
He rooted out tall tops, buried the bright edge deep To scatter new potatoes that we picked Loving their cool hardness in our hands.
By God, the old man could handle a spade
Just like his old man.
My grandfather cut more turf in a day Than any other man on Toner's bog.
Once I carried him milk in a bottle
Corked sloppily with paper. He straightened up
To drink it, then fell to right away Nicking and slicing neatly, heaving sods Over his shoulder, going down and down For the good turf. Digging
The cold smell of potato mould, the squelch and slap Of soggy peat, the curt cuts of an eage
Through living roots awaken in my head
But I've no spade to follow men like them.
Between my finger and my thumb
The squat pen rests.
I'll dig with it.
What senses are called upon to make the experience concrete?
In this poem, the senses of sight, sound, touch, and smell are called upon to make the experience concrete.
1. Sight:
- The speaker describes seeing his father digging, his "straining rump among the flowerbeds," bent low and stooping in rhythm through potato drills.
- The speaker also describes his grandfather cutting turf and "nicking and slicing neatly" as he digs.
2. Sound:
- The poem creates a vivid soundscape with the "clean rasping sound" of the spade sinking into gravelly ground.
- The speaker also mentions the "squelch and slap of soggy peat" and the "curt cuts of an edge" as the turf is dug.
3. Touch:
- The speaker mentions the feeling of the "coarse boot nestled on the lug" and the firm levering of the spade against the inside knee.
- The speaker also mentions the "cool hardness" of new potatoes in their hands and the feeling of the paper-corked bottle while carrying milk to his grandfather.
4. Smell:
- The poem evokes the "cold smell of potato mould" as well as the smell of the peat that is being dug out.
These sensory details help to make the experience of digging and the connection to the speaker's father and grandfather more vivid and tangible for the reader.